Presentation to DMTH Class at the University of Regina

Today, I was invited as a special guest to make a presentaion about the integration of technology into the teaching of Math. Here is my presentation that I made (in French) to the 3rd year undergrad students in DMTH class at the University of Regina. Hopefully the students found it useful and discovered some new tools or ideas to add to their tool kits.

 The links for this presentation are located here: http://fur.ly/4dog 
 
Here are the slides from my presentation:

DMTH Presentation - Maths et Technologie

View more presentations from Joanna Sanders Bobiash.

Here is the poll we started out the presentation with:

Create interactive meetings at Poll Everywhere

Please leave a comment with your ideas, tools or resources for integrating technology into math instruction.

Real-time and living statistical counters and simulators used in the classroom

One way to introduce my students to the use statics in real life is to show them real-time counters or simulators that are created to count a variety of things the moment you view the page. These living statistics are different than the page counters and other more common counters located on websites and blogs. Those are more static and only change the next time you visit the site. The ones they find most fascinating are the live or real-time counters because they see the numbers grow and change before their eyes.

In viewing and interacting with these gadgets and websites, students start asking numerous questions. I find that these types of counters always generate good discussions and inquiry opportunities. We tend to question the creators and their purpose for creating such a counter. We question motive and point of view such as: How are these counters used to illustrate the author's point of view? Can we believe the sources of their statistics? How have the statistics been manipulated to create certain results?

One of our favourites to leave up on the SMART Board while students are working on other things is the Breathing Earth which simulates the birth rate, death rate and C02 emissions around the world and displays current world and country populations. Students always generate interesting questions about the human impact on limited world resources while viewing this website. They are also fascinated when they start to compare their country's population and CO2 emissions with other countries that are smaller in geographical size but have much larger populations.

Another interesting tool to look at the impact of Social Media is from Gary Hayes' blog Personalize Media. One of his latest is this Mobile Industry counter:


He also has a Social Media counter:


Another interesting live statistics website depicts Real Time World Statistics on Reeko's Mad Sciencest Lab. This site has a number of different types of statistics from the general interest "How many McChicken sandwiches have been sold since you began viewing this site?" to the more detailed Science and Energy Consumption statistics.

One website I've found that illustrates the use of real-time counters for a lesson or discussion on the author's point of view is the website Immigration Counters.com. This website shows how statistics can be used, displayed or interpreted to illustrate one point of view on immigration.

Do you have other gadgets or websites that you like to use with students to demonstrate live statistics? I'm always looking for new and interesting websites and gadgets with live statistics. I would love to hear about the ones that you use or that you have come across.

Demonstration of a Grade 7 Math Class using a SMART Board

NECC09 Session: Demonstration of a Grade 7 Math Class using a SMART Board

My Notes:

Uses story to start math lesson about Renee Descartes – animated using Smart Board

Lesson: Coordinate Plane

Review: Warm up on number lines (animated)

Lesson:

Manipulative:
Had students fold paper – demonstration on SMART Board with virtual paper photos or graphics. Paper cut to leave room for notes on paper on sides of Coordinate Plane.

Visual Lesson – have students come up an interact with the Smart Board – auditory and visual supports with animation

Used airliner to draw on quadrants (denoted by different colours) enables classroom management by the teacher and allows for student involvement.

Test knowledge using senteo handheld asking questions.

New School Structure

I've had to take a break from blogging over the past month or so due to my involvement in my school's restructuring for next year. Our school board has undergone a renewal process and launched the opportunity for schools to propose a new innovative school structure that involves teacher collaboration, project and inquiry based learning opportunities for students, flexible time tabling, mixed groupings and a focus on literacy and numeracy skills. Our school decided to take the board up on its challenge and submitted a proposal. In the end, we are one of ten elementary schools and four high schools to be chosen. We are very excited about next year.

I'm most excited to be moving into a classroom with a SMART Board. I will be moving into a larger classroom that will have room for students to work on project-based learning opportunities in the afternoon. I will also get to use the SMART Board for my literacy and numeracy blocks in the morning.

The structure we proposed is outlined in a Power Point presentation I created to present to our staff and parent council. I have posted it to Slide Share to include it in this post. I have also included the draft of the handout we produced to distribute at our Board's Annual General Meeting last week. I don't have a digital version of the final draft.

WW SIWG Presentation

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WWAGM Brochure

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As we embark on this new structural innovation, I would love to hear from others regarding our plan. Have you implemented similar plans in your school or division? How have you used SMART Boards in your classroom? Do you have other ideas or suggestions after reviewing our plan?

La Géométrie - Grade 6 Math iMovie Projects

My Grade 6 French Immersion Math class spent the past two weeks researching definitions, writing scripts, taking photos and making movies all about geometry. Everyone did a fantastic job. The best part is that all the students in the class can now easily define, identify, create and find examples of different triangles, shapes and other geometric terms. Here are the top three iMovies for your enjoyment. (narrated in French):

La géométrie est intéressante
par Meghan et Molly

Le monde géométrique

par Jordan et Serena

La géométrie: le filme!

par Aaron et Kyle